Penang - A Historical and Cultural Heritage

Hi! As my house WiFi wasn't working properly, I weren't able to continue posting my trip until now. So, here's the second part. (It will be a very long posts. But, please bare with me =D).


Ayer Itam

Our first stop early in the morning is Penang Hill (升旗山).

The entrance

As it was a school holiday and it's early in the morning, there were only a few people. We didn't have to line up and so there's no need for the fast lane ticket. 

I couldn't really remember but my mum told me that when we were young, we rode a train, which slowly "crawl up". However, now we have the modern, faster version of "slanted cabin" (they called it a funicular train)!

Throughout the ride, the train stopped a few times (I supposed it's for tourists to snap a few pictures). After we passed through a tunnel, we arrived at the destination. 

The first place I went to is the deck, where it boasts to be able to see all of Penang. Originally, I planned to see the sunrise in this amazing place but we were late. 

but the view wasn't all that bad right?

After a short stay in the deck, there's a row of binoculars to allow you to see the beautiful Penang for a small price of RM 1 for 2 minutes. 

Walking along the trail, we arrived at the main area, where most of the attractions are gathered. There's a restaurant called Astaka, where we could smell the fragrance of fried chicken from far. We did not order one as it was not ready when we decided to leave the place. Above the restaurant, is where the love locks are. 

Passing this main area and we arrived at a temple and a mosque, with this huge cannon.

Aiming position

We weren't there for long and came down about an hour later. Near Penang Hill, there's a Bat Cave Temple (蝙蝠洞大伯公), which I think is worth the visit.

You will be able to see lots of tortoises and fishes right next to the parking area.

As for the bats, at first, I thought it was just a name to attract tourists, but there really are bats inside the temple, right inside this cave.

You can't really see the bats because it is really dark inside the cave and a man said there isn't as many bats as before. So, I thought it would be really hard to spot a bat in it. However, if you keep quiet and listen to your surrounding, you would be able to hear the squeaking sound of the bats. And that's how I saw them.

Besides the bats, there is this really huge fish in this temple. It's a Piraruchu (巨龙鱼).

Lots of living being inside this temple, which I'm really glad I insisted on visiting this temple.

Later, we went to visit the famous Kek Lok Si Temple. But before that, we went to have breakfast in the market.

A special Chee Cheong Fun, which sauce is made of belacan

The super famous Ayer Itam Assam Laksa. It opens from 10.30am - 7pm. When we arrived at 10.30am, there was no more space. So, we shared table with another people. It was good, and it was especially fragrant when eaten together with the torch ginger.

This famous dish is made by this chef:

As we were going to the temple, we saw a few stores that attract a lot of people. One is the honey Char Siew Pau and another one is this:

I couldn't seem to recall the name of this flat sweet biscuits. It has a crispy outer, tasted almost like kuih kapit, with softer inner. I had one earlier in the restaurant which was made by an Indian (not to discriminate, just to help you identify the store). The one has a more salty, soft and thick inner (so it's a combination of sweet and salty), which I preferred over this, although this wasn't that bad either.

Up to the temple.

The entrance + parking (it's an entrance before the real entrance)

To go up to this temple, you will pass through a series of shop

and a huge tortoise pond (moved to Oriental Garden at the foothill of the temple).

A mountain of tortoise

Then, after a payment of RM 2 entrance fee. Here is the temple which has a combination of Chinese, Thai and Burmese architectural style.

You can clearly see the different architectural styles. 

Before you reach the pagoda, you will be passing a few other places.

I'm amazed by how this monk writes as though he is using a normal pen, which is rarely seen now. <3<3 I wish I can do it...

At the top of the pagoda:

Amazing greeneries around the temple:

Georgetown

Around noon, we went to Chew Jetty (姓周桥) and other clan jetty. Basically, what's there are 2 rows of traditional houses above the sea. Chew Jetty is especially famous where some of the people use the houses as shops.

Difference between Lee Jetty and Chew Jetty:

I feel that I had to take this picture no matter what

At Chew Jetty, we saw a lot of people gathered at this restaurants, where they served a huge bowl of noodles.

The menu:

We did not try it as there were a lot of people and we weren't hungry at all. Well, there's always a next time. 

Later, we went to a hunt for Street Art. It didn't take much time as my father as a tourist guide, knows where they are.

We also passed by this amazing building, which belongs to the Cheah Family (谢公司), one of the Five Big Clans in Penang.

As the weather was extremely good and hot that day, we stopped by at an ice cream shop, right beside Khoo Kongsi (邱公司). It has a traditionally beautiful interior of peranakan, I supposed, as there are lots of peranakan's bowls.

The ice cream that we ordered.

Penang Heritage Ice Kacang

Dragon Ice Ball (a special version of ice kacang):



A very refreshing dessert after the hot hot hot day!

We then visited Khoo Kongsi, in which they still maintain the magnificent clan house. Khoo Kongsi is one of the must visit tourist sites as it has a long history of lineage (about 650 years according to the official website).

The magnificent clanhouse was renovating when we were there.

In this building, there is history of the origin of Khoo Clan, their genealogy, the clan structure, their emigration, everything you know about this family. However, their stories are very confusing for me. I need a teacher and time to thoroughly understand their family.

For now, let's just enjoy the interior.



Lots of arts.



The whole of Khoo Kongsi.

Aren't they super big?

Later, we went to a more young and fun place - the Upside Down Museum!! It was a really long queue as they limit the people who enter the "house". It was quite a long wait.

When it was our turn, we had to take off our shoes and when we entered the house, there are guides and photographers who taught us how to pose and helped us to take pictures (using our phones). The results:





About 4pm, we left for more temple visit. One was the Burmese Buddhist Temple and the other was the Thai Buddhist Temple. They are both located at the opposite of each other.

I spent much more time in the Burmese Buddhist Temple, reading the story of Gautama Buddha along the entrance.

And much lesser time in Thai Buddhist Temple. One reason was because the Thai Buddhist Temple is really sparkly. Due to the hot weather, I had a headache, looking at those sparkly things, worsen it. Second, was because it's almost the closing time.

Thai Buddhist Temple is covered with this reflective mosaic from the gate till the temple. It was so sparkly that my eyes could barely open.

Inside this temple, there is a really huge Sleeping Buddha.

And a lot of small Buddha statue, named by days and zodiac.

Behind and below the sleeping Buddha, carved the story of Gautama Buddha, which I am not familiar of. Guess I'm more exposed towards Burmese story then.

Later, we stopped by Gurney Plaza for a short dinner. However, as we were too early, not all the stores were opened.


Batu Feringghi

Finally, we arrived at Batu Feringghi to enjoy the sunset view.

We also passed by the night market along the way and went for another short dinner in Long Beach Cafe, a hawker food store, which I really recommend. Why? It's because I don't feel like I'm in Malaysia, even though I'm in Malaysia. This place is filled with foreigners!! There are also a huge variety of food to choose, which I hope I can try some from each store. Sadly, I don't have the stomach for it. We ordered these 2: prawn and stingray.




And yay, that's all for the second day!! We tried our best to go to as many places as we could, which was probably why there weren't much eating that day.

Sorry, for the super long post!